Delivery

“As well as the obvious outcomes of learning new media skills, self-confidence has increased, as has pupils’ self-esteem. The quieter, more anxious pupils have in particular gained immensely from these projects. Two pupils have gained enough confidence to reintegrate back to main school” (Maddy Salisbury, teacher, Aconbury Centre PRU)

The Gaining Ground project began in September 2005 at The Aconbury Centre, a Year Nine PRU, in Hereford. Over the next two academic years 12 media modules will be delivered in the centre, along with professional development for members of staff from all 3 Herefordshire PRU’s.

Each module is delivered over a 5 week period by a visiting media artist for a minimum of two hours a week. This method of delivery was seen as the most successful in terms of timing, both for the students and for the centres own timetable. In Year One Professional Development was delivered prior to each workshop, in Year Two, the visiting artists visited each PRU individually to conduct either support/top up sessions with the designated teacher or to help introduce the module to a new group of students. The artists who delivered the workshops were all experienced media workshop leaders, with prior knowledge of working in Pupil Referral Unit settings.

Although the projects are segmented for delivery purposes it is anticipated that the skills learnt in each discipline will be applied throughout the academic year in other key curriculum areas, such as History and English, and as an after school activity where further ideas could be explored.

For those pupils who remain at Aconbury for a term or more the projects will also have a cumulative effect; skills learnt in one workshop will be transferable to others, for example the compositions made in music could feature in film, web, animation and digital stories. For those pupils who may only remain at the centre for a short time, or whose presence could be sporadic, the programme will remain flexible in its delivery and provide stimulating and rewarding experiences through a single project.